Issue 1: The Commission has been Active
with Respect to Disseminating Information to the Public and Public Officials
Regarding the Ethics Act.

The Commission participates in training programs presented by the State
Division of Personnel and several State agencies and associations of public
agencies and personnel. The Commission also distributes 16,000 copies of
its quarterly newsletter to all State and county elected officials. Ethics
brochures accompany all financial disclosure forms sent to those required
to file. The Commission's web site is another tool used to provide information
summarizing the Ethics Act. The Commission also makes presentations to
public agencies, associations of public servants and the general public.
Much information is disseminated informally by the Commission through telephone
calls made by public officials requesting information on specific issues.

Issue 2: The Ethics Commission has
Maintained a High Level of Activity with Respect to Enforcing the West
Virginia Governmental Ethics Act.

An
examination of the Commission's duties related to its role in enforcing
the West Virginia Governmental Ethics Act shows that a high level of activity
has been maintained, particularly given the Commission's staff of four.
The Commission is most active with respect to processing financial disclosure
statements and registering and monitoring lobbyists. It also publishes
an annual directory of lobbyists. Of the Commission's duties, the issuing
of advisory opinions is more common than processing complaints, but the
volume of advisory opinions has fallen as many issues were dealt with in
opinions issued early in the Commission's history. At the time of this
report, the Commission had issued over 750 advisory opinions, thereby providing
a considerable body of precedence that makes it unnecessary to duplicate
opinions on the same issues. The Commission has received an increasing
volume of informal requests for information. Informal requests are not
recorded but the Commission feels that they are an important factor in
keeping down the number of advisory opinions and formal complaints.

The Commission registered nearly 500 lobbyists in calendar year 2000
and collected nearly 1,500 lobbyist activity reports. Over 4,000 financial
disclosure statements were filed by public officials and candidates for
public office in 2000. These functions accounted for much of the Commission's
activities.

Requests for employment exemptions are seldom rejected by the Commission
due to the fact that officials generally discuss their desire for an exemption
with Commission staff prior to filing a request. Few officials choose to
file a formal request if they are informed that it is unlikely to be granted.

The Commission receives a relatively small number of complaints each
year with few resulting in a violation during the years since the Commission's
creation. Other complaints resulted in conciliation agreements which are
a somewhat more common means for settling complaint cases.

WVC §6B-2-3 requires
the Commission to issue an advisory opinion within thirty days of its request.
Since the Commission meets monthly, it should not be difficult for the
Commission to act upon advisory opinion requests in a timely manner. The
Commission maintains a log book that records the date a request for either
type of advisory opinion (Open Meetings Law or ethics opinion) is received.
Although the issuing of an opinion can be tracked by referring to the State
Register, the Commission does not maintain detailed records tracking the
length of time required to do so. The Commission generally issues an opinion
at the next meeting following its request. If the request for an opinion
is received within a few days prior to a meeting, it may be held over for
consideration until the next meeting. This provides the Commission with
adequate time to study the request. Since the Commission only meets once
each month, the result may be that some requests take slightly longer than
thirty days to process.

A
number of time frames are found in the WVC §6B-2-4 regarding the processing
of complaints. The Commission maintains a form for each complaint that
records the statutory time frames for its disposition. The Commission also
maintains a database of complaints that includes the date of filing, the
official's position and the final disposition of the complaint.

Recommendation
1:

The
West Virginia Ethics Commission has performed satisfactorily and the Legislative
Auditor recommends that the agency be continued.

Recommendation
2:

The
Commission should consider maintaining data on the length of time required
to issue each request for an advisory opinion.